Lordy Lordy Look who’s 40 2
We return to The Ossington for our 42nd celebration and this time we will welcome The Jessica Stuart Few as our special guests. Plus we have a new Live in Bellwoods for you, from the lovely LOOM.
One thing I can tell you is it will be a blast, and you will have a dance party provided by the amazing vinyl collections of Mr. Mike Juneau and Mr.Nick McKinley
tell all your friends
HumbleMania 41 will mark the release of Humble Empire’s 12th official Music Video and it is even more exciting cause this is the first time Mr. Kyle McCreight sat in the directors chair for the project.
We will début the brand new music video for Whale Tooth – Wolves, plus our special guests for this week will be none other than Whale Tooth. They stole the show during the first day of our NXNE live in bellwoods festival and I’m sure they will wow the crowd again with their acoustic performance.
click photo for FB event page
We’ve got a very special night planned for our 40th HumbleMania celebration. Katie Monks from Dilly Dally will perform a special acoustic set at midnight, plus we will debut a brand new Live in Bellwoods from the Jessica Stuart Few. But before that we are going to try something completely new, HumbleMania 40 will be a record trading party. The first 20 people to arrive will receive a free record, it may be something you’ve always wanted, or you’ve never heard of. People are also asked to bring any records they are ready to part with or if they have a double that they would like to trade for a different record. Idealy people will trade amongst themselves till they end up with an album they think they’ll enjoy even if it’s just for the cover sleeve.
As always HumbleMania is a pay what you can event so please donate how ever much you’d like.
The fun starts at then, see you then.
The daytime was a hard battle to fight after nightly 4am last calls during CMW, but the prospect of the great acts Bobby Kimberley lined up for us is what kept us going. Here is some of my favourites from the 3 day event we had at the Toronto Institute For the Enjoyment of Music.
“the show-stealer”
I already was looking forward to Ben Caplan, as he is a beast of a performer, and has the best beard this side of the pacific. What I didnt expect was his smashing (pun intended) performance of “Stranger” that he did on the Institutes Piano. He may have put it slightly out of tune, but he definitly stole the show with this performance, such power from this man that he did not need the support of a microphone and PA. Enjoy this a million times over, it sends chills up my life.
“the perfect start”
Walking up to the Institute on the first day and seeing Andrew Seale out on the sidewalk tuning his banjo gave me the most comforting feeling, that feeling of, I love this guy and his music, what a comfortable start to what will be a hectic 4 days of music. I first heard “We Grew Taller Waiting” at a Music Parlour event and instantly was smitten with it, full disclosure, when I edited the first performance of this song I was in an “interesting” place, and when it finished I had all this liquid on my cheeks… weird. Andrew set the perfect mood for this event, and I only wish more people were jobless bums and the room could have been jammed wall to wall for this deserving perfomance.
“the lads from far away”
Estonia is somewhere on the planet, right? I mean I could be wrong but I think its on a different continent than ours. What I do know, is that if any other music sounds half as awesome as Ewert & The Two Dragons, than Estonia is poised to be the next Montreal, or some other place that tons of awesome musicians come out of. The chorus of “Jolene” was stuck in my head all day, and is still back there in the mess of the 20+ other bands we filmed. When it comes down to it, if you rock a glock, I’m going to like it. alot.
“the quirky story-teller”
Self-proclaimed “quirky” Jess Hill is an attention grabbing songstress, as she explained the back-story to “Give Me Your Ghost” she mentioned other known “quirky” songwriters, and she just so happened to name my top favourite female musicians, I mean she mentioned Bjork, thats my girl. Jess Hill’s soft voice has the unique power to silence a room and have everyone waiting patiently, and feeling better about it than ever. You could almost feel the ghost that she claimed wrote the song through her, in a word, Breathtaking.
“the jazzy-dancey ones”
Royal Canoe was an act I had never heard before, and they won me over… with their excellent harmonies and shouty chorus’ they had me movin and wishin I knew the lyrics so I could sing-a-long, and clap-a-long and dance-a-long. So I just loved-a-long with their awesome tunes.
“the rad two-piece”
I am always infatuated by a band with very little members, I have always believed that greatness can be achieved with very little ingredients, its the vegan ribs approach, deep fried veggie burgers and BBQ sauce is all you need to make your mouth have a party, but Im getting off topic. I had a short heads up about Army Girls, when the night before at the July Talk show, the wonderful Brock Dale said to me “Army Girls! did they play today?” when someone of that musical caliber is excited about a band, I get doubley excited. I wasn’t let down, their songs stuck with me even still now, I catch myself humming the hook to this song multiple times daily.
“the ones that sealed the deal”
Whale Tooth was our final act to play Live Near Bellwoods, It was nice to see these guys and gal after such a hectic 3 day peroid of filming and seeing great music and not sleeping. Their acoustic versions of their songs are fantastic, and I absolutely love what Sep does with just a floor tom. I dont really think I have to mention how amazing Elise’s voice is, her beautiful appearance and energetic performances doesnt hurt her either. With a song about getting older, they proved that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to life. also their songs are straight jams!
“the real stars”
Bobby Kimberley has been very good to us, I dont think I can name a band that he has lined-up for us that was bad, or even close to not-amazing. If i tried to understand how he does what he does, I wouldnt have any time to edit these videos, let alone clean myself. Im not sure what that means, but the man is legitimately awesome. We really couldnt do what we do, and wouldnt be where we are at without this man. Thanks Bobby.
All in all, every band was fantastic, and if you made it all the way through my terrible writing to here, than you’re even more fantastic… here is a playlist of all the videos from Live Near Bellwoods, enjoy!
CMW came and went like a dream, except without the sleeping part. Whoever’s bright idea it was to make last call 4 am during this festival is both a genius and an asshole. Our schedule was packed with the Live Near Bellwoods (review post coming soon), a New Noise Live shoot, and the task of having many friends playing showcases throughout the city and having wristbands on.
The first day of Live Near Bellwoods was fantastic, not too crazy, just the ease into this madness we needed. Immediately after (technically during) we had to get to Audio Blood Media’s #ThirstyThursday showcase to film some more friends who just happen to be amazing musicians. The free beer and friendly faces was all we needed, the free shots were just an added bonus.
This line-up was a stellar one and the room was just sweaty enough to make everyone ok with feeling like they just did an hour of hot yoga while doing shots of jagermeister in-between poses. We captured the always entertaining Ben Caplan, the thrash-happy Sandman Viper Command, the uplifting Sydney Wayser, and the “I feel like I either just had sex or am about to have sex” rock of The Balconies. enjoy what we captured in the playlist below.
The weather is unstable but the one thing you can rely on is HumbleMania.We return to the Ossington for our 39th celebration and ladies and gentleman boy do we have a show for you.
Our special guests this week are the fantastical friendly Elwins who will perform an acoustic set for all the HumbleManiacs.
Also we kick off the 3rd season of Live in Bellwoods with the debut of our newest session featuring Murder By Death.
As always the fun starts and ten with an all vinyl dj set by team Humble Empire and a rockin dance party that will knock your socks off
After a two week long hiatus it’s time for the return of the greatest night on the planet, HumbleMania 38 takes place on Wednesday March 14th Live from The Ossington. Our special guests this week are indeed very special, the incredibly handsome and equally talented Mr. Luke Lalonde and friends will perform a set of Roger Miller covers. As always bring your dancing shoes because the party will be treated to the best of the Humble Empire vinyl collection.
We’ve got a very special night planned in honor of some of our favorite musicians.
Since february is black history month we decided to celebrate and educate. We will be playing all of the best black musicians from the blues to motown to rock and roll all the way to hip hop and rap. Plus we will screen the best of the 1962 blues and folk festival featuring performances by some of the greatest blues legends to ever live like, Howlin Wolf, Son House, Big Joe Turner, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Big Momma Thorton and many many more.
Of course all the music played will be on vinyl all night long. So if you’ve got some classic blues or essential rock or rap that you’d like to contribute bring it along.
The lovely Revelstoke, and the beautiful Adrienne Fraser, did a very nice set of lovely songs at last night’s “I Love Music Parlour” at the Central, here is a love song that I instantly fell in love with.
